Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

The Role Of Causal Structure In Romantic Stay-Leave Judgments, Judith Lynn Burkle

Theses - ALL

I report on one between-subjects experiment exploring the impact of causal structures on decisions regarding staying in relationships. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a first-person perspective or a third-person perspective. In each condition, subjects encountered several relationship scenarios that instantiated one of five distinct causal structures: (a) common cause, (b) common effect, (c) causal chain, (d) positive feedback loop, and (e) negative feedback loop. Within these scenarios, subjects were asked to make causal attribution judgments by evaluating how each event described in the scenario would influence the decision to stay in the relationship. Additionally, subjects rated …

The Art Of Dreaming: A Surrealist Approach To Dream Analysis, Shelby Wright

Honors Thesis

Over the past two years, I created a series of paintings to explore the meaning of my nightmares. This study analyzes the themes and symbols in these dreams through the psychological frameworks of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Freud’s causal approach focuses on repressed desires, while Jung’s method relies on mythological symbols and archetypes in the collective unconscious. Drawing on the ideas of André Breton and the Surrealist movement, I examine how art can bridge dreams and waking life. By painting my dreams, I aim to better understand my unconscious and invite viewers to question their perception of reality. This …

Storytelling: A Natural Mnemonic, Hailey Stephens

Honors Theses

The present study explored the effectiveness of storytelling as a teaching method in enhancing memory performance for educational material compared to traditional lecture-based instruction. Memory plays a crucial role in learning, and effective teaching strategies should facilitate information encoding, retention, and retrieval. Storytelling, an ancient yet often overlooked pedagogical tool, has been shown to engage students emotionally and cognitively, making presented content more memorable. In the present study, participants were randomly assigned to either a storytelling-based instruction group or a traditional lecture group. Both groups received instruction on the ASSURE Model and were tested immediately after the lesson and again …

Facilitating Design Of Effective, Scalable Digital Mental Health Care, Himanshu Mahesh Patil

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

This thesis tackles the challenges of designing effective, scalable digital mental health care solutions by integrating psychological research with human-computer interaction (HCI) principles. An exploration of self-care technologies (SCTs) for mental health is conducted to highlight challenges to comparative analysis, like fragmented research outcomes. Two research questions are posed to investigate how mental health interventions can be designed to be effective and overcome practical challenges to implementation. A theoretical framework in clinical psychology is adapted to bridge the gap between psychology and HCI. A methodology for conducting standardized, structured comparative analysis of mental health interventions is identified. The identified method …

Transforming Criminal Justice Leadership With A Servant-Oriented Trauma-Informed Approach, Janina Cich

Forensic Scholars Today

This paper explores the transformative potential of a criminal justice leadership model by integrating principles of servant leadership, emotional intelligence, and trauma-informed care, focusing on rebuilding community trust, improving officer well-being, and fostering equitable, empathetic public service. This transformative module emphasizes humility, accountability, and emotional awareness to address the deep-rooted effects of trauma on both criminal justice personnel and the communities they serve. Through proactive strategies, such as open communication, cultural competence training, and mental health support, future leaders can cultivate resilient, community-focused agencies prioritizing healing, justice, and human dignity.

Examining Components Of The Interpersonal Psychological Theory Of Suicide In A Clinical Sample Of Children With Suicidal Thoughts And Behaviors, Alana Brixner Nunes

Theses and Dissertations

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 10- to 14-year-olds. Despite a need to identify risk factors for suicide among children, there is limited research on suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) in childhood. The interpersonal psychological theory of suicide (IPTS) suggests that the desire for suicide emerges from perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness and that the transition from suicide ideation (SI) to a suicide attempt (SA) results from an acquired capability for suicide. However, no research has examined whether the IPTS applies to suicidal thoughts and behaviors among children. The present research examined components of the IPTS in …

Divided Attention With Long-Term Memory: Recollection And Familiarity For Musical Melodies, Gaia Steinberg, Jackson S. Pelzner, Rhiannon N. Soriano Smith

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Objective: Test whether the well-established effects of divided attention 1, 2. (DA) found with non-musical (i.e., verbal and pictorial) materials generalized to musical melodies.

Background: Few studies have used melodies to test recognition models (e.g., DPSD). Parks et al.2 showed stimulus complexity alters source memory reliance on recollection (R) and familiarity (F).

Method: Used a 2 (attention) x 2 (melody type) mixed design with an old-new recognition test to compare DA effects across well-known and novel melodies.

Experiment 1: Applied an n-back task to split participants’ attention; no significant DA effect was observed.

Experiment 2: Shortened melody length and added …

The Mighty C: A Fractal Model For Modern Creativity, Joe Todaro

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The persistent ambiguity surrounding the definition of creativity has hindered its advancement across academic, educational, and professional settings. In response, this paper proposes an updated framework—The Mighty C—which defines creativity as the intrinsic human activity of generating meaningful, novel, and useful outcomes through deliberate process. This model addresses critical gaps in conventional definitions, particularly the frequent omission of meaningfulness, intentionality, and the uniquely human nature of creativity. It further emphasizes the recursive nature of these aspects across different levels of creative activity, represented through the structure of fractals. Drawing from scholarly models such as Rhodes’ 4Ps and Kaufman and Beghetto’s …

Surviving Their Stripes: Quality Of Life And Coping For Individuals With Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Julianna L. Breazeale

Health, Human Performance and Recreation Undergraduate Honors Theses

Hypermobile type Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) is a subtype of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a genetic connective tissue disorder with complexities involving joint hypermobility, tissue fragility and severe pain. Patients with hEDS often experience misdiagnosis, medical dismissal and years of waiting for a diagnosis. This study aims to evaluate the quality of life and diagnostic journey for patients living with hEDS. Qualitative, cross-sectional and semi-structured interviews were conducted in this study using a descriptive, phenomenological methodological approach. The specific phenomenon is the experience of the hEDS diagnosis and how that diagnosis further impacts patient life. The two primary research questions that we aimed …

A Review Of Studies Assessing Modifiable Risk Factors For Dementia Among Family Caregivers In The United States Based On Behavioral Risk Factorsurveillance System (Brfss), Shruthi Ranjithkumar

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia (ADRD) face an increased risk of developing dementia due to advanced age and modifiable risk factors. The 2024 Lancet Commission Report identified 14 such risk factors, whose mitigation could reduce dementia cases by 45%. Despite this, research on modifiable dementia risk factors among ADRD caregivers remains limited. This study investigates whether peer-reviewed studies utilizing Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data assess modifiable dementia risk factors among ADRD caregivers. A PubMed search retrieved 27 relevant articles, which were analyzed for risk factors identified by the Lancet Commission, including traumatic brain injury, …

Parkinson’S Disease And Processing Speed Theory Does Processing Speed Mediate Higher-Order Cognitive Functioning?, Priscilla Cuellar-Rocha

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder resulting in both motor and cognitive deficits. Salthouse (1990) proposed the Information Processing Speed (IPS) Theory that a reduced cognitive processing speed is a significant factor that accounts for the negative relationship between age-related variance and cognition. Parkinson’s is an idiopathic disorder, meaning that the cause is unknown, with most patients being 60 years and older. If the IPS theory suggests that an increased age affects the slowing of IPS, which then impairs cognition, PD, a disorder involving older adults, should also follow this pattern. However, no studies have assessed the IPS theory …

Tidal Waves Of Mental Health Damage: Effects Of The 2024 U.S. Election, Mary Anne Layden

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Do Readers Keep Track Of Protagonist Identity In Narratives?, Sophia Skrivanos

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this research was to further investigate conflicting findings in the literature regarding the processes readers use to maintain and update their mental representation of contextual information in text. Previous research suggests that the relevance of information to a protagonist’s goals in a story influences whether that information will later be validated (Levine & Kim, 2019; Levine & Klin, 2001; Lutz & Radvansky, 1997). Studies showing that readers overlook inconsistencies in contextual information (Albrecht & Myers, 1995; Smith et al., 2020; Smith & O’Brien, 2012) often involve materials where the inconsistent details are irrelevant to the protagonist’s goals. …

Using Eeg To Measure Attentional Spreading Across Objects, Dawson L. Green, Michael Pratte

Honors Theses

Abstract: Attention may not solely be restricted to a spatial area or a feature of an object, but rather can “spread” across all parts of an object in space, enhancing the processing of its features collectively (Duncan, 1984). This phenomenon suggests that attention operates at the level of whole objects, enhancing the representation of all features associated with the attended object while suppressing competing stimuli. Building on this object-based framework, the present thesis examines the functional and neural dissociation between attention and awareness using steady-state visually evoked potentials (SSVEPs) as a frequency-tagging method in EEG. Leveraging the high temporal resolution …

When 'Weird' Means 'Dangerous': Viruses And Firewalls In Affective Polarization, Nathan J. Locke

All Theses

As traditional sources of epistemic authority face declining trust, alternative narratives have gained prominence - often leveraging the emotional and cultural resonance of seemingly simple terms. In the 2024 election cycle, the term “weird” emerged as a potent meme in American political discourse. Using a memetic perspective that incorporates elements of framing theory and Social Judgment Theory, this thesis investigates the use and reaction to “weird” and its role in shaping perception of Donald Trump, his political allies, his followers, and his opposition during and immediately after the 2024 Presidential election. The memetic perspective, which views ideas as units of …

The Effect Of Implementing A Development Program Using Mental Imagery On The Time To Master Psychomotor Skills, Randal Agee

Dissertations

Psychomotor skills development programs that use mental imagery have been demonstrated to help individuals acquire psychomotor skills (Anu et al., 2020; Seymore-Walsh et al., 2020; Toth et al., 2020). The commercial trucking industry is presently experiencing a global shortage of qualified truck drivers (American Trucking Association, 2019; Staats et al., 2017). One reason individuals are avoiding or leaving careers as commercial truck drivers is the time spent away from home (Staats et al., 2017). A couple logistical strategies have been developed to improve the situation (Mittal et al., 2018; Prime Inc, 2024); however, for the solutions to be sustainable, the …

The Drawing Effect: Evaluating Drawing Method And Strategic Implementation On Recall Accuracy, Jacob M. Namias

Dissertations

Drawing images of to-be-remembered word’s reference often improves memory for the word relative to a control in which the word is written or read silently, a pattern dubbed the drawing effect. Drawing effects have been recorded in a variety of contexts and are generally more beneficial than other deep/elaborative encoding tasks. My dissertation compared recall for words that are drawn by copying a given image versus generating a drawn image without copying, and in study contexts in which the proportion of drawn items is disproportionally skewed. Experiment 1 gauged whether drawing effects differ relative to writing when participants draw an …

Does An Impaired Sense Of Smell Make It Harder To Think About Things Like Garlic?, Ishrat N. Khan

Honors Scholar Theses

According to sensorimotor-based (also called "embodied" or "grounded") theories of semantic memory, accessing conceptual knowledge about things involves reactivating—or “simulating”—the sensory and motor experiences that we have had with them. For instance, thinking about things for which olfactory experience is dominant (e.g., garlic or a rose) would involve simulating their smell. However, evidence for olfactory simulation when thinking about "smelly” things is sparse and mixed. We tested smell-impaired (“anosmic”) and control participants (N=130 in the anosmic group and N=190 in the control group) on three tasks (1) Picture-Word Verification, (2) Semantic Property Verification, and (3) Free Recall. We predicted that …

A Comparative Analysis Of The Intersection Between Sex Trafficking And Domestic Violence: A Cross-Cultural Study Of The United States And India, Rachel A. Napier

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Domestic violence survivors are affected by long-term trauma from abuse, which can lead to them being more vulnerable and susceptible to sex trafficking tactics. Sex trafficking survivors are also at risk of becoming involved in an abusive relationship because they may have been previously exposed or due to a normalization of abuse. Both domestic violence and sex trafficking are prevalent issues within the world that continue to be ongoing due to their hidden nature. This study highlights the connections between domestic violence and sex trafficking and how each can be portrayed differently based on the environment and cultural norms within …

Influence Of Smartphone Notifications On Behavior And Eye Movement Parameters Of Emotional Attention, Joshua Daniel Upshaw

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how smartphone notifications interact with emotional facial expressions to influence behavioral and physiological eye movement parameters of attentional orientation. Using a dot-probe paradigm, participants viewed mixed emotional face pairs (angry, happy, or neutral) following an auditory stimulus (smartphone notifications, control tones, or silence). Angry faces elicited greater behavioral accuracy and delayed initial fixations, consistent with heightened threat-related attentional engagement. Notifications disrupted attentional stability, reflected in increased fixations and pupil size variability. The combined effect of smartphone notifications preceding angry faces intensified attentional modulation—evidenced by slower responses, increased blinking, greater pupil constriction, less pupil variability, and faster initial …